Gifting AR to its staff is nonsense. Even if they downgraded their operations (say AR became a regional airline serving Argentina and neighbouring countries), they would never raise enough money to operate. AR�s assets are some of the oldest planes in the fleet (737-700s and E190s, the newest planes and all the A330s are leased) and the brand, which may carry some weight as it is a well-liked name in Argentina. They don�t even own any valuable slots or significant real estate � the beautiful AR offices in Champs Elys�es and Calle Princesa are long gone.

I am old enough to remember how this �government helping airline employees� thing was tried in the early 2000s in South America � Flex for ex-Varig staff in Brazil, Alas Uruguay for the Pluna people and Lafsa/Southern Winds for Lapa employees in Argentina. All cases failed miserably.

AR�s future is either finding a private owner (and massive layoffs) or bankruptcy. This is a shame as contrary to other FTers I like the airline (excellent safety record, reasonable crews and in 3 decades of flying they never lost my bag!) but if the government stops bailing them out, I don�t see how they may survive.

Well if they can't hack operating without receiving subsidies then they deserve to go bust. I don't want any of my taxes going to an airline just to keep their employees in the very comfortable lifestyle they've become accustomed to..

I highly doubt the government will allow AR to go bust anytime soon. It's too vital to the nation's transport system - in part because LAN pulled out after years of harassment by Cristina and her allies (and covid being the final nail in the coffin). Without AR, there's no easy way to travel around the country - no national train network, just long bus trips (36-48 hours to get down south from BA). It would be far too disruptive to the nation's economy to let the sole national air carrier collapse.

What I can see is Milei issuing a DNU or finding another way to gut AR employees' padded contracts and eventually selling the company to a sucke- I mean, a buyer, perhaps another global airline group. Maybe LATAM could be tempted to reenter the market - who knows? But I don't think any private-sector buyer is going to want to touch AR until it becomes clear that Milei and his economic reforms have some staying power.